Maggio Children Chorus

Children’s Choir of the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

In order to promote and educate the new generations to musical culture, in 2015 the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino established the Children’s Choir, which is today composed of 77 singers between the age of 9 and 15.

Since its debut, which took place under the musical direction of Zubin Mehta the same year of its establishment, the Children’s Choir constantly participates in both the concert and opera productions of the Teatro del Maggio.

Among its first performances, dating back to the 2015/2016 season, there have been the executions of the Symphony n. 3 by Gustav Mahler, the Oratorio Elias by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and The Nutcracker by Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij, as well as the participations in Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck and in Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini.
During the 2016/2017 season the Choir was involved in the execution of three remarkable concerts of Howard Shore’s soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings, performed during the screening of the films; in La Bohème and in Tosca by Giacomo Puccini; in the contemporary opera dedicated to the holocaust Il Viaggio di Roberto by Paolo Marzocchi and in Hymnus amoris by Carl Nielsen, under the musical direction of Fabio Luisi. Moreover, in June 2017, the Choir performed in Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome, during the presentation to the Parliament of a report of the Authority for Childhood and Adolescents.
In 2018 it was engaged in Carmen by Georges Bizet and in the Oratorio Paulus by Felix Mendelssohn.

In the spring 2019 it took part in the cycle of Gustav Mahler Symphonies (including the monumental Symphony No. 8 “Dei Mille”) conducted by Fabio Luisi, while in the autumn of the same year the Children’s Choir performed in Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo and once again in Carmen by Georges Bizet, in Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini and in the unpublished opera Noi 2, 4 by Riccardo Panfili.
In 2020, under the musical direction of Maestro Mehta, the Choir performed in Otello by Giuseppe Verdi and in Drei Bruchstücke aus Wozzeck by Alban Berg, with soprano Camilla Nylund.
In April 2021 it participated in Tosca, in concert form, conducted by Zubin Mehta.

During the 84th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival, the Choir was among the protagonists of the inaugural concert of the Festival, with its performance in Perséphone by Igor Stravinskij, a three act melologue under the musical direction of the principal conductor Daniele Gatti; in June 2022 it took part in the world premiere of  Al sognatore di cupole by Salvatore Sciarrino, at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence; in October of the same year it participated in the concert of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff with the Orchestra Regionale Toscana; during the Autumn Festival it was a part of the Symphony n. 3 by Gustav Mahler conducted by Zubin Mehta.
In March-April 2023 the Choir performed the Avec la garde montante in Georges Bizet’s Carmen, under the musical direction of Zubin Mehta. In May it took part in Otello by Giuseppe Verdi with the same conductor, in July in the concert Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and in November in La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini.

 In the 86th Festival del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Choir is engaged in Turandot and Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, under the musical direction of Zubin Mehta and Daniele Gatti respectively.

 In addition to the artistic engagements with the Teatro del Maggio, the Children’s Choir pursues its own intense concert activity.

From February 2015 to December 2022, the musical direction of the Choir has been conferred to Lorenzo Fratini; since January 2023 the role of conducting the choral ensemble has been handed over to Sara Matteucci, previously master trainer of the Choir itself from its foundation.

For further informations:

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy – ETS
Piazzale Vittorio Gui, 1- 50144 Florence (FI) – Italy
Tel. (+39) 055 2779334-327
E-mail: [email protected]